A Tiny Embrace
by Liebelit
Summary: When DG messes up a spell that transforms Cain and Glitch into cats, everyone tries to find a way to turn them back before they become the palace pets. Cain/Glitch, a dash of DG/Jeb, and eventual Azkadellia fluff.


Notes: This will just be a little lighthearted story that I couldn't resist writing in between my other stuff. There's Cain/Glitch slash (though they're in another form) and a little DG/Jeb, but I think it'll be mostly DG-Az-Jeb friendship :)  
And I also wanted to say that if there's anyone who was reading my Goodnight Sweetheart story, it has not been abandoned! I just haven't had a chance to keep working on it yet so I'm writing smaller things, but I'll get to it soon and it will be finished eventually!

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It was after four hours of nonstop magic lessons that DG decided she needed a break. But her and Azkadellia's classes weren't scheduled to end until another hour, so she suggested that they could take their next lesson outside in the gardens surrounding the palace. Fengári, a white cat with yellow eyes that came and went as she pleased, meowed in agreement and jumped through the back window; heading to the gardens whether they followed or not. At first DG had wondered if she was also a shapeshifter, but Tutor assured her she was just a regular old cat that liked to help in his sessions from time to time. Letting herself be lifted in the air, or turned a different color, or other simple spells like those. It almost felt like she had finally received her letter from Hogwarts.

As it turned out, Tutor would be teaching them Regeneration and Rejuvenation next. Apparently he had even brought a little dried out plant that they'd have to heal with their magic, so taking this particular lesson outside would be even more appropriate than she had thought. Not that that had been her reason for suggesting it in the first place.

And maybe part of the real reason was because she knew Jeb was training there at this hour. Maybe.

Though luckily, Toto-Tutor, she had to remember to call him Tutor in his human form-agreed to the change of location and soon enough the three of them were standing in the expansive grounds north of the palace, right on the edge of the garden. They were facing a small patch of wildflowers where a few of the plants were withering. It made sense, DG thought, since everything in the garden would already be young and beautiful; and even better because from here she could see Jeb with a group of tin men in a clearing only a mile away.

But back to class.

"You have to let the energy flow through you and into the receiving object, yes, like that..." Tutor was instructing Azkadellia at her side.

They all knew that she probably knew more magic than anyone, but whatever magic she had done in the last fifteen years, even if it was the witch, had been dark magic that destroyed everything it touched. That was why she felt so reluctant to try these spells on living beings, even if it was only a plant. DG held her hand through them all.

She felt the surge of energy through them and watched as the knee high plant that had been withered and grey fluttered while it slowly revived. It kept growing until it bloomed into a large bright pink flower with dozens of tiny petals and DG recognized it as a dahlia.

"Excellent!" Tutor said when the spell was done, "Now you, DG."

Taking a deep breath, DG closed her eyes and followed Tutor's instructions. After levitation and shape shifting spells this one couldn't be too hard, right?

It turned out not to feel any different than anything else they had done that day, except that healing what looked to be little more than a dried out root left her a little more drained than anything she had done in the last four hours. Or maybe it was precisely because she had done so much magic in the last four hours...

Whatever the case was, Tutor seemed to notice. Because he gave her a an encouraging praise and told her and Azkadellia they could take a short break.

Finally opening her eyes after gathering her bearings, DG saw that her spell had blossomed into a sunflower; and she had just the perfect plans for it.

She cut the flower with her pocket knife and walked over to Jeb.

Giving flowers to a guy friend might not be the most traditional thing, but she was certainly not the most traditional princess so she was sure no one would mind. Jeb for his part seemed to be warming up to her, and surprisingly to Azkadellia as well. She felt like they could all relate to each other, being young people on their own and not quite knowing how to fit in or what to do now that the dark times were over.

Half an hour later, Tutor and all the other guys that had been training with Jeb seemed to have mysteriously disappeared. The next moments were spent by both of them making bad jokes as Jeb showed off his skills with a sword and DG tried to show off some simple combat spells she had learned the other day while Azkadellia cheered them on in her own quiet way.

They were just talking by a tree on the edge of the clearing when they saw Cain and Glitch walking down the path. DG drew away from the others for a moment and watched with a knowing smile as her two friends came up to them.

It had been three months since the defeat of the witch and everything that had come after, but Glitch-and he really was still Glitch-was still recovering from his surgery. DG wasn't sure when or how it had happened, but she knew that at some point Cain and Glitch had worked something out and had somehow become closer than any of them. She was ridiculously happy for them but she suspected that she and Raw were the only ones who knew that Cain's constant care and affection for Glitch during these last months hadn't been just out of friendship.

"Hey, how are you guys doing?" She smiled when they joined her, Azkadellia, and Jeb at the outskirts of the garden.

"Good." Cain said, casting a not-so-subtle sideways look at Glitch.

"I'm feeling _much_ better." Glitch grinned as DG went to hug him, "These walks really help, among other things."

"That's so great, Glitch!" She hugged him more gently than she did before but he returned the hug in less than a heartbeat. "Thanks, doll."

DG was faintly aware that her two companions were standing awkwardly to the side. One getting out a, "Dad, Glitch, nice to see you." And the other muttering a shy, "Hello." She suspected Cain and Jeb hadn't gotten the chance to talk much yet, and Azkadellia still couldn't look at Glitch's face. It all resulted in uncomfortable silences and it was beginning to put a damper on DG's day so she decided to do something to distract everyone and ease the tension in the room-er, clearing.

Looking around for any object or small unsuspecting creature to use in a demonstration, she spotted Fengári helpfully sauntering over to them through the freshly mowed grass. Since they had already been practicing with her all morning and DG was confident the simple color charm she was planning wouldn't hurt her, she decided the yellow-eyed feline was the perfect target.

"Watch this!" DG said to the group as she closed her eyes for a moment and stretched out her arm, palm open, toward the cat. It vaguely occurred to her in the back of her mind that this would be the first time she'd be using magic without any direct or indirect counseling.

She hoped the last few hours of class payed off, and focused her energy into a directed beam of light.

Everyone had been watching in curious expectation when two things happened at the same time. One was that DG could feel her magic working. The other was that the cat leapt out of reach before it could take effect.

As Fengári scampered around her almost mockingly, she also twirled around after her, trying to catch her in the spell's grasp.

"DG," Azkadellia said softly, "Maybe you should let it be, we've done enough magic for today."

"But I wanted-" she lunged after the cat, flicking her wrist in another attempt, "To show Glitch and Mr. Cain-" she tried again, closer this time, "What we could do! Aha! Gotcha!"

In her quest to catch the elusive white cat, DG hadn't been paying much attention to where she was actually going. Fengári had made the briefest of pauses right in front of Cain and Glitch, and just before the charm could hit its intended target, she sprung out of the way again; which left the two men straight in it's path.

"Watch out!" Cain shouted, moving closer to a startled Glitch as he tried to shield him, but it was too late and DG's stream of magic hit them both.

Somewhere to her left Azkadellia gasped in horror, and at her other side Jeb was backing away slowly. But all DG could see was the pile of clothes laying in front of her, that was all that remained of her friends.

"I'm going to get Tutor!" Azkadellia choked out, a frightened tremor in her voice, before running away from the clearing and back toward the gardens.

DG fell to her knees in front of the clothes, her hands hovering above Cain's hat and Glitch's brand new coat. "I don't understand..." she said to no one in particular. According to the spell she was casting, they should be _green_ right now not _gone_.

"DG, what did you do." Jeb didn't even make it a question. It just sounded like a dry, cold remark that sent shivers down her spine.

"I don't know..." Her voice wavered and her vision blurred as tears started gathering up in her wide eyes, "I was just trying to turn Fengári green!"

The damn cat was nowhere in sight by now.

Just when her tears began to fall, staining the couple's clothes, DG noticed a slight shifting under the garments. She frowned in confusion, staring at the pile like a hawk until it happened again; a tiny movement under Glitch's coat.

"Wait, what's that?" She said in between soft sobs, finally reaching for the clothes and rummaging through them until she unearthed a small kitten.

A kitten with black and white fur patterns, and-right there on top of his head, half covered by fur-a fading scar.

"Oh my God." DG's eyes went wider if that was possible, "Glitch, is that you?!"

A sharp meow answered her, but it hadn't come from Glitch. Now realizing what she had done, DG lifted Cain's hat tentatively and discovered another kitten. This one had a more solid shade of sandy yellow fur, and the familiar pale blue eyes she had been expecting.

"Dad?" Jeb whispered, stepping closer to them until he was kneeling beside DG. "_What did you just do?_"

DG made a face, a combination of a grimace and a nervous smile, and told the obvious answer. "Well, from the looks of it I just turned your dad and Glitch into kittens... Sorry."


End file.
